Hotel associations are actively engaging central and state government officials in their push for a rollback of the 28% tax on hotels where tariffs top Rs 5,000. The Federation of Associations in Indian Tourism & Hospitality in a media statement said it is hoping for a GST rate of 18% for the industry as post the 28% rate, hotels with a tariff of Rs 5,000 and above will be 7% higher than the current average rate, and restaurants in five-star hotels will be 9.5% higher. According to a research by consulting firm HVS said that if one were to put aside other costs (such as service charge, municipal tax, cess etc) on an ‘apples to apples’ comparison, not a single state (in India) was levying such a high tax on its guests as will now be the case with this new tax regime.